Investing in Zimbabwe

REGISTRATION

All new foreign investment into Zimbabwe has  to be registered /approved by the Zimbabwe Investment Committee  through an application that is done by  applying for an Investment Certificate. Foreign  investment into existing companies require   Reserve Bank approval. This approval is obtained by submitting an  application to the Exchange Control Department of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe  through the investee company’s commercial bank or merchant bank (Authorised  Dealer).

The Zimbabwe Investment Centre  Act stipulates that within 45 days after  receiving an application, the Investment Committee shall consider the  application, reach a decision thereon and cause the applicant to be notified of  its decision. However Registration / Approval by the Zimbabwe Investment Centre  may take between 48 hours and ten working days depending on the nature of the  project.

COMPOSITION OF THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

The Investment Committee comprises of  representatives from various government ministries and departments, the  Executive Director who is the Chairperson and three private sector Board  members whose role is to represent and spearhead interests of the private  sector.

PROJECT REGISTRATION

To  streamline the project approval process, Zimbabwe Investment Centre registers projects that meet  the following criteria: 

• Projects in the preferred sectors i.e. manufacturing including  agro-processing and assembling activities, mining and tourism development.  Projects in these sectors can be 100% owned by foreign investors. However joint  ventures with local investors wherever possible are encouraged.
• The project meets all the other criteria listed above including  being environmentally friendly and meeting immigration requirements.

Project  registration means that the qualifying project proposal would not  require approval of the Investment Committee but would be registered in house by the Director  of the Centre and this can be done within 48 hours  provided the applicant does not wish to take up residence.